.36 cal. bullet mold

[bull frog]

I have used .350 ball for a long time with good luck.  Have also used Hornady 000 Buckshot, it is .350 diameter.  Sometimes hard to find, last box came from Midwest shooters suply.  Comes in a 5 lb. box.

[Mongo40]

ADK Bigfoot, I appreciate the offer, as I still haven't bought a mold, If your offering I wouldn't mind trying one of each size to see which ones it likes an lets me load, I only use two kinds of patching, old white tshirts for the ones to hard to load an pillow ticking for everything else. Later

[Red Badger]

I use the buckshot in my pistols works right nicely and the Local gun shop always has it in stock in 5 lb boxes....

[Hanshi]

My .36 is a TVM SMR.  I cast .350" ball and patch with .024" ticking.  This combo loads easily and shoots as well as I can make it shoot.  While I'd really like a .355" mold, a .360" would be interesting to try....with maybe .015" ticking.

[dchaf]

I use a .350 ball and .010 patch in my 36 cal. rifle.  It is easy enough to load in the field and I get
real good accuracy.  I would try some swaged  commercial ones before buying a mould .

[Tim Ault]

Just curious has anyone ever tried at cast  light weight bullet designed for the .357  say in the 100 gr range ?  Either sized down and with patch or if drops big enough as is ? Another alternative is a 9 mm mak. Bullet. Outa pure lead should drop about .363 ish from the lee mould and weigh about 100 gr.

[Red Badger]

Just curious has anyone ever tried at cast  light weight bullet designed for the .357  say in the 100 gr range ?  Either sized down and with patch or if drops big enough as is ? Another alternative is a 9 mm mak. Bullet. Outa pure lead should drop about .363 ish from the lee mould and weigh about 100 gr.

Nope and don't recommend it either - RB is what I shoot and what most of our firearms were ment to shoot... You can take your fancy Maxi stye projectiles and experiment all you want but I pay good coin for my guns and won't subject them to that kind of punishment...        (besides I can't afford any more molds right now...)

[Hanshi]

Just curious has anyone ever tried at cast  light weight bullet designed for the .357  say in the 100 gr range ?  Either sized down and with patch or if drops big enough as is ? Another alternative is a 9 mm mak. Bullet. Outa pure lead should drop about .363 ish from the lee mould and weigh about 100 gr.

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You don't need a "bullet" to hit at longer ranges.  My load of 20 grains of 3F and .024" patch along with a .350" ball is "coke can accurate" at 88 yards.  I don't see why another 12 yards would make much difference other than a bit more drop.

[Tim Ault]

 I dont know if I would consider a additional 30 grs. of weight punishing to a well built rifle using  the proper load ? I asked  not to replace the PRB but to just have the versatility if I so choose. Heck I dont even have a 36 cal yet but will hopefully come the spring .Just had a "what If" thought as I was reading through this thread. Its not about longer range or more energy or anything of the sort just can it be done or has anyone done it .

[William]

I don't think that a modern bullet design would be suitable in a muzzle loader because of they way the lube rings are designed, with smokeless powder and modern lubes in mind.  You would have to paper patch the bullet to get good sealing and accuracy, making loading a lot harder and increasing the chance of breaking a wooden ramrod.  Now, if a REAL type bullet were made for your 36 caliber then it would be a matter of twist rate and depth of rifling to make it work, at least that is how I see it.

Just curious has anyone ever tried at cast  light weight bullet designed for the .357  say in the 100 gr range ?  Either sized down and with patch or if drops big enough as is ? Another alternative is a 9 mm mak. Bullet. Outa pure lead should drop about .363 ish from the lee mould and weigh about 100 gr.

Everyone is free to wade in with their opinion on this, as I'm here to learn and am curious as to the process that might be set in motion at this point.

[Tim Ault]

Good point about the lube grooves or lack of them being big and deep enough , that's something my wondering mind didn't think about , yes I guess paper patch could work but is nearly impossible with my lack of dexterity in my fingers. But a cloth  patched. .355 dia. bullet like something short designed for the .380 acp may work ? Like I said before just a what if type of thing

[bugflipper]

http://leeprecision.com/mold-dc-358-125-rf.html This works in my 36 green mountain barrel. I use beeswax/alox and a little olive oil for lube. It is close enough to not need paper patched. It has a 1-48 twist barrel and gives good groups. I think a lot of folks discount bullets because they believe they aren't traditional. Truth is they were used back then, folks just get that notion in their mind these days of what is and is not right for them, which is fine. A lot of times when folks talk about more range they mean more range on game. For instance I hunt a lot with a 40. It would be marginal on deer with a deer out very far at all. With a bullet it has plenty at 100 and a little over to take one. The little 36 does real good on pigs and coyote with a bullet out to 100. I think it would be a toss up on either with a ball at that range, don't know never tried it.

For the fellow that was initially looking for a rb mould gm usually recommends .05 under with a .015 patch. They are hard to get started but it's hard to find a better shooting combo. Lee is the cheapest and doesn't make a .355 so I went with a .360 and cast it at a lower temp. On a bottom drop lee electric pot on 5 it drops them at .355 with the pure lead I have. With wheel weight lead I've had to cast on 2 to get a lower temp yet for them to drop at .355. I imagine you could cast wide open heat with .350 balls and .022 bluejeans to get about what GM recommends for fitment if you don't want to play around with casting temp to fill the mould out differently.